11/03/2013

Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies are back in a familiar place — No. 1 in the poll.

Connecticut received all 36 votes Friday in The Associated Press' women's basketball poll marking the ninth time that the Huskies are the top team in the preseason. Five of those years UConn went on to win the national championship.

"I don't know that being preseason No. 1 necessarily gets you anything except some attention," Auriemma said. "But it's always nice when people want to talk about your players and program. We like that feeling."

UConn has most of its team back from last season's national championship run led by sophomore sensation Breanna Stewart, who won most outstanding player of the Final Four honors in April.

Connecticut, which also was the preseason No. 1 in 1995, '99, 2000, '01, '03, '08, '09, and '10 opens Nov. 9 against Hartford before facing No. 3 Stanford two days later. The Huskies only trail Tennessee's 12 appearances at No. 1 in the preseason poll.

Duke was second in the poll — it's best ranking since the Blue Devils finished at No. 1 in the final poll of 2007. They haven't been this highly ranked in the preseason since it was No. 1 in the 2005 opening poll.

The Blue Devils are led by talented guard Chelsea Grey, who is working her way back from a dislocated kneecap in February that ended her season.

Stanford, led by senior Chiney Ogwumike, was third followed by Tennessee.

Holly Warlick has the Lady Vols back in their customary spot in the Top 10 in the preseason. Last year they were picked 20th in the first poll — their lowest preseason ranking since they missed the first poll ever in 1976-77. Tennessee had only been out of the Top 10 in the preseason one other time and that was in 1984-85.

Louisville matched its best ranking ever at No. 5. The Cardinals, who were also No. 5 in 2009, return four starters from last season's team that shocked the women's basketball landscape by knocking off Baylor in the NCAA tournament regional semifinals before falling to UConn in the title game.

"I've never been one that's been about where you start, I'm more concerned where we finish," Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. "It's an honor and shows what we've been able to do here in our six years. I think we've laid a very good foundation and we're not just a team that's had one good year, we're a program. We're a program that's here to stay and compete for years to come."

The Cardinals will play one season in the new American Athletic Conference before bolting to the ACC next season. Their former Big East foe Notre Dame was sixth in the poll. The Irish made the move to the ACC this season.

Kentucky, Maryland, California and Baylor rounded out the first 10. The Lady Bears were No. 1 the preseason the last two years. Baylor wasn't picked to even win the Big 12 this season with star Brittney Griner and four other seniors graduating.

That honor went to Oklahoma, which is No. 11 in the poll. The Sooners are followed by North Carolina, Penn State, Dayton and LSU. Dayton, which was ranked for 18 weeks last season, makes it first appearance ever in a preseason poll. Expectations are high for the Flyers after going 28-3 last season and returning four starters.

Texas A&M, Nebraska, Purdue, Colorado and Michigan State are the next five. It's the Buffaloes' first preseason ranking in a decade.

Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Iowa State, Georgia and Gonzaga round out the poll.

The Sooners were one of five teams in the poll not ranked at the end of last season. The others were LSU, Michigan State, Oklahoma State and Gonzaga.

The SEC has six teams in the Top 25 with the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten each having four.

10/31/2013

Cecilia Abadie was pulled over for speeding Tuesday evening in San Diego, when a California Highway Patrol officer noticed she was wearing Google Glass and tacked on a citation usually given to drivers who may be distracted by a video or TV screen.

The lightweight eyeglasses, which are not yet widely available to the public, feature a hidden computer and a thumbnail-size transparent display screen above the right eye. Users can scan maps for directions — as well as receive web search results, read email and engage in video chats — without reaching for a smartphone.

Abadie, a software developer, said in an interview that she was not using her Google Glass when she was pulled over for allegedly going about 80 mph in a 65 mph zone on the drive home to Temecula after visiting a friend.

"The Glass was on, but I wasn't actively using it" to conserve the battery, she said.

Abadie expressed surprise that wearing the glasses while driving would be illegal and said she's "pretty sure" she will fight the ticket. First, she said, she needs to seek legal counsel. In the flurry of online commentary her traffic stop has generated, several people saying they are attorneys offered their services.

"The law is not clear, the laws are very outdated," Abadie said, suggesting that navigating with the device could be less distracting than with a GPS unit or phone.

"Maybe Glass is more a solution to the cellphone problem than a problem," she said.

It's unclear whether a citation for Google Glass has been issued before. The CHP said it is not sure whether an officer within its own ranks has written one, and an agency spokesman pointed out hundreds of law enforcement agencies in California alone can write traffic tickets.

Legislators in at least two states, Delaware and West Virginia, have introduced bills that would specifically ban driving with Google Glass. Authorities in the United Kingdom are mulling a similar ban.

About 10,000 units have been distributed so far in the United States to "pioneers," and this week Google announced another 30,000 would be available for $1,500 apiece. Abadie said she got hers in May and has become an "evangelist" for the technology.

A spokesman for Google did not reply to a request for comment. On its website, Google says this about using the headgear while driving: "Read up and follow the law. Above all, even when you're following the law, don't hurt yourself or others by failing to pay attention to the road."

___

Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

10/29/2013

It wouldn't be a limited edition Tokyoflash watch if it weren't hard to read, right? The company's latest timepiece, the Kisai Xtal, follows that time-honored (get it?) tradition with a design that goes heavy on the styling -- it's described as being "crystalline shaped" -- and an interface that's ...

10/26/2013

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows rebels from al-Qaida affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, as they sit on a truck full of ammunition, at Taftanaz air base, that was captured by the rebels, in Idlib province, northern Syria. An Islamist extremist group affiliated with al-Qaida, Jabhat al-Nusra has emerged as one of the most powerful rebel factions on the battlefield.(AP Photo/Edlib News Network, ENN, File)

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian activist group says Kurdish gunmen have captured a crossing point on the Iraqi border after days of fighting with Muslim hard-liners.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Kurdish militiamen captured the Yaaroubiyeh post in northeast Syria on Saturday after three days of clashes with several jihadist groups there, including al-Qaida-linked factions Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

The capture of the border point came hours after Syrian TV claimed that the leader of the powerful Jabhat al-Nusra has been killed. Friday's one-line report, which could not be immediately confirmed, said Abu Mohammad al-Golani died in the coastal province of Latakia.

Clashes between Kurdish fighters and jihadists in northern Syria have killed hundreds of people in the past months.

10/23/2013

Contact: Kristen Parkerkristen.parker@cabs.msu.edu517-353-8942Michigan State University

Good news for parents: Those pricey piano lessons or random toy parts littering your floors may one day lead to the next scientific breakthrough.

That's according to new Michigan State University research linking childhood participation in arts and crafts activities to patents generated and businesses launched as adults.

In the study, which is published in the most recent edition of the journal Economic Development Quarterly, the researchers defined "childhood" as up to 14 years old.

The team of multidisciplinary researchers studied a group of MSU Honors College graduates from 1990 to 1995 who majored in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, or STEM. They found of that group, those who own businesses or patents received up to eight times more exposure to the arts as children than the general public.

"The most interesting finding was the importance of sustained participation in those activities," said Rex LaMore, director of MSU's Center for Community and Economic Development. "If you started as a young child and continued in your adult years, you're more likely to be an inventor as measured by the number of patents generated, businesses formed or articles published. And that was something we were surprised to discover."

Musical training seems to be important. The researchers found 93 percent of the STEM graduates reported musical training at some point in their lives, as compared to only 34 percent of average adults, as reported by the National Endowment for the Arts. The STEM graduates also reported higher-than-average involvement in the visual arts, acting, dance and creative writing.

In addition, those who had been exposed to metal work and electronics during childhood were 42 percent more likely to own a patent than those without exposure, while those involved in architecture were 87.5 percent more likely to form a company. And children with a photography background were 30 percent more likely to have a patent.

Why?

Such activity fosters out-of-the-box thinking, the researchers said. In fact, the group reported using artistic skills such as analogies, playing, intuition and imagination to solve complex problems.

"The skills you learn from taking things apart and putting them back together translate into how you look at a product and how it can be improved," said Eileen Roraback, of MSU's Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities. "And there's creative writing. In our study, a biologist working in the cancer field, who created a business, said her writing skills helped her to write business plans and win competitions."

The results of the study could be crucial to rebuilding the U.S. economy, the researchers said.

"Inventors are more likely to create high-growth, high-paying jobs in our state, and that's the kind of target we think we should be looking for," LaMore said. "So we better think about how we support artistic capacity, as well as science and math activity, so that we have these outcomes."

###

In addition to LaMore and Roraback, the research team included Robert Root-Bernstein, professor of physiology; John Schweitzer, professor in the Center for Community and Economic Development; James Lawton, professor of sculpture; two undergraduate students and one graduate student.

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A young Picasso or Beethoven could be the next Edison

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

23-Oct-2013

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Contact: Kristen Parkerkristen.parker@cabs.msu.edu517-353-8942Michigan State University

Good news for parents: Those pricey piano lessons or random toy parts littering your floors may one day lead to the next scientific breakthrough.

That's according to new Michigan State University research linking childhood participation in arts and crafts activities to patents generated and businesses launched as adults.

In the study, which is published in the most recent edition of the journal Economic Development Quarterly, the researchers defined "childhood" as up to 14 years old.

The team of multidisciplinary researchers studied a group of MSU Honors College graduates from 1990 to 1995 who majored in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, or STEM. They found of that group, those who own businesses or patents received up to eight times more exposure to the arts as children than the general public.

"The most interesting finding was the importance of sustained participation in those activities," said Rex LaMore, director of MSU's Center for Community and Economic Development. "If you started as a young child and continued in your adult years, you're more likely to be an inventor as measured by the number of patents generated, businesses formed or articles published. And that was something we were surprised to discover."

Musical training seems to be important. The researchers found 93 percent of the STEM graduates reported musical training at some point in their lives, as compared to only 34 percent of average adults, as reported by the National Endowment for the Arts. The STEM graduates also reported higher-than-average involvement in the visual arts, acting, dance and creative writing.

In addition, those who had been exposed to metal work and electronics during childhood were 42 percent more likely to own a patent than those without exposure, while those involved in architecture were 87.5 percent more likely to form a company. And children with a photography background were 30 percent more likely to have a patent.

Why?

Such activity fosters out-of-the-box thinking, the researchers said. In fact, the group reported using artistic skills such as analogies, playing, intuition and imagination to solve complex problems.

"The skills you learn from taking things apart and putting them back together translate into how you look at a product and how it can be improved," said Eileen Roraback, of MSU's Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities. "And there's creative writing. In our study, a biologist working in the cancer field, who created a business, said her writing skills helped her to write business plans and win competitions."

The results of the study could be crucial to rebuilding the U.S. economy, the researchers said.

"Inventors are more likely to create high-growth, high-paying jobs in our state, and that's the kind of target we think we should be looking for," LaMore said. "So we better think about how we support artistic capacity, as well as science and math activity, so that we have these outcomes."

###

In addition to LaMore and Roraback, the research team included Robert Root-Bernstein, professor of physiology; John Schweitzer, professor in the Center for Community and Economic Development; James Lawton, professor of sculpture; two undergraduate students and one graduate student.

[
| E-mail
Share
]

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

10/21/2013

Some two weeks behind the regular version, today OS X Mavericks Server has hit Gold Master (GM) ahead of a potentially imminent release. As usual with GM builds, unless any showstoppers are found, this is the version that will push out to customers, quite possibly before the month is out.

If you're a developer with a keen interest in the Server version of Mavericks, head on over to the Apple Developer Portal and download a copy now. If not, sit tight, we're almost there!

10/18/2013

Treating herself to a little retail therapy, Fergie Duhamel showed up at Maxfield boutique in West Hollywood on Thursday afternoon (October 17).

The “Big Girls Don’t Cry” songstress also stopped at a baby clothing store to pick up some duds for her little boy Axl before heading over to her doctor’s office for a quick checkup.

Meanwhile, Fergie’s hubby Josh Duhamel recently told press that things are going quite well for the new mommy.

“She is doing so great. She really is. She is happy. She looks amazing … and she looks probably better than she did before. I don’t know if it’s because of what she’s been eating or what, she looks really, really great.”

Corn prices are down and the farm bill is stalled in Congress. So there's a lot of uncertainly in the air as harvest season gets into full swing across the Midwest. But this is a time of year when farm families like the Friesens in Henderson, Neb., come together to focus on the big task at hand: the corn harvest.

Curt drives a truck. So does his son-in-law, who's new on the farm. That's how the Friesens are harvesting 1,100 acres of corn this fall, about middle of the pack in terms of its size.

With roughly 97 million acres of corn to pick nationwide, farmers are pulling in family and friends as part-time help to haul in the crop.

Nancy Friesen grasps the orange joystick that controls the Friesens' giant John Deere combine, which is so big, it makes the cornstalks look like matchsticks.

"It is a humongous piece of equipment," she says, "and it is intimidating. It's got all kinds of bells and whistles to let you know what's going wrong."

During corn harvest, it's all hands on deck on the Friesen family farm in Henderson, Neb. Nancy Friesen typically takes the controls of their John Deere combine.

Grant Gerlock/for NPR

During corn harvest, it's all hands on deck on the Friesen family farm in Henderson, Neb. Nancy Friesen typically takes the controls of their John Deere combine.

Grant Gerlock/for NPR

Nancy Friesen isn't totally comfortable in the driver's seat. Even a modestly priced combine costs $350,000, and most of the year she's in the garden, not the field. But she expressed some relief as she mowed down the cornstalks and watched the grain flow in.

"It is a good feeling when the corn is in the bin and we don't have to worry about it out here anymore," she says. "So many weird weather things can happen," like last year's drought, which was the worst since the 1950s.

The drought caused corn yields to dry up across the Midwest. The Friesens were lucky — irrigation saved most of their crop. And farmers who irrigate reaped the rewards last year, as drought shrunk supply, pushing corn prices to record highs of over $8 a bushel.

Of course, drought can also be disastrous at harvest time, as Albert Friesen, Curt's 92-year-old dad, knows firsthand.

When Albert Friesen started farming he used horses, not green tractors. In 1938, at age 16, he took over the farm after his dad died. The next year a drought hit and the crop was ruined.

"There was nothing here," he says. "Everything dried up. I went to Minnesota to pick corn by hand."

He brought home $69, just enough to keep the farm. That was a tough year.

"But I think we're in for some tough times yet again," he says.

Tough in comparison to last year, at least — 2013 could be the biggest corn harvest in history: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated 13.8 billion bushels. With so much supply, corn prices have been shrinking since the beginning of the year and are down around a three-year low, though prices remain quite healthy by historical standards.

Still, it's not clear what the crop will be worth by the time it's in the bin. That uncertainty comes just as Jason Lewis, the Friesens' son-in-law, is joining the family farm. A year ago, Lewis was in a college classroom. He wasn't a student — he was the professor.

"This time last year, I was at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and I was probably teaching turf grass science class," Lewis says.

Now the 35-year-old Ph.D. from Kearney, Neb., is hauling corn and wearing earbuds so he can listen to podcasts while he's in the field.

During a break in the action, Nancy said she is grateful to have extra help on hand.

"I love it when I can hear Curt and Jason talking in the shop and he's got somebody to talk shop to," she says. "I love having the kids back. It takes the pressure off so much."

But Nancy couldn't talk for long. Albert had an empty grain wagon. Jason had a truck to fill. She plunged the combine into the standing corn. The harvest grind will go on for another four to six weeks.

"It's just pretty much harvest," Nancy says. "I try to clear the schedule. I just figure nothing really happens in October."

At least, not until the last load of corn comes in.

Grant Gerlock reports from Nebraska for NET News andHarvest Public Media,a public radio reporting collaboration that focuses on agriculture and food production issues.

10/13/2013

A monster storm makes landfall on India's eastern coast and has winds gusting up to 150 miles per hour. Cyclone Phailin also is expected to bring a storm surge up to 20-feet. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

By Sruthi Gottipati and Jatindra Dash, Reuters

BHUBANESWAR/SRIKAKULAM, India -- Cyclone Phailin powered its way inland over eastern India on Sunday leaving a swathe of destruction but the loss of life appeared limited after more than half a million people sought safety in storm shelters.

Phailin was the strongest storm to hit India in 14 years. Torn branches littered a road running past destroyed huts and twisted electricity poles along a large stretch of the east coast.

At least five people were killed - four people by falling trees and one when the walls of her mud house collapsed as the storm roared in off the Bay of Bengal, authorities said.

The cyclone was one of three major storms over Asia on Sunday. The smaller Typhoon Nari was approaching Vietnam and Typhoon Wipha loomed over the Pacific.

More than half a million people in India spent the night in shelters, some built after a storm killed 10,000 people in 1999. Others took refuge in temples.

By first light, winds had slowed to 56 mph from top speeds of 124 mph when the storm made landfall near the town of Gopalpur in Odisha state on Saturday night.

Bikas Das / AP

Evacuated villagers disembark from a truck at a relief camp as it rains near Berhampur, India, on Saturday.

Television images showed cars flipped on their sides and debris-strewn streets in the silk producing city of Brahmapur, one of the hardest hit. A few trucks and motor-bikes returned to the city's streets as residents emerged to survey the damage.

Large swathes of Odisha, including its capital, were without electricity for a second day after the storm ripped down power cables, and officials said it was too early to give an accurate damage assessment.

"We will assess after the cyclone eases ... even now the cyclone is on," said Odisha's chief secretary J.K Mohapatra.

"There has been pretty severe devastation in Brahmapur town."

Soldiers and rescue workers in helicopters, boats and trucks will fan out across Odisha and neighboring Andhra Pradesh state to review the damage. The India Meteorological Department warned of extensive flooding and destruction of flimsy homes.

Storm surges can cause the worst destruction. Phailin was forecast to drive sea levels up 11 feet at its peak.

At least 550,000 people were crammed into shelters, including schools and temples, in what the National Disaster Management Authority called one of India's largest evacuations.

In Mogadhalupadu, a fishing village in Andhra Pradesh, where some people had refused to leave their boats and nets, the damage was less than feared. Seawater surged into huts made from coconut palms near the beach.

"People have come back to the village now," said village chief Jagdesh Dasari, saying winds that gusted through the night had dropped off and the rain was light.

Operations at Paradip port in Odisha have been halted since Friday. All vessels were ordered to leave the port, which handles coal, crude oil and iron ore. An oil tanker carrying 2 million barrels of oil worth $220 million was moved.

10/11/2013

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Harvest is in full swing across the country, and farmers in many states are surprised at the abundance of corn they're getting from their fields.

Dairy farmer Ben Steffen, who also grows corn, soybeans and wheat on 1,900 acres near the southeastern Nebraska town of Humboldt, said his first corn field brought in 168 bushels an acre, above the average of 140.

"I'm surprised that what I'm hearing from my neighbors there are some really outstanding yields," he said. "I don't know if I would consider it a record crop at this point, but the numbers I'm hearing are going to be right up there."

The best crops in the U.S. are in areas that received adequate rain combined with cooler temperatures at the time corn pollinated, a welcome sight after last year's dismal harvest due to the drought withering corn and soybean fields and burning up pastures. Record harvests are likely this year in many states, including Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and Ohio.

All that corn will help refill bins that had been emptied after last year's drought-reduced harvest of 10.7 billion bushels, the lowest since 2006, said Chad Hart, an agriculture economist with Iowa State University.

"We now know how good it can get and how bad it can get in just two years," said Jerry Gulke, who farms near Rockford, Ill., and runs a farm management and market advisory business based in Chicago. Gulke says this harvest, when finished, will be the best he's ever had: More than 200 bushels per acre, twice last year's result.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated the 2013 corn harvest at 13.8 billion bushels, beating the 2009 record of 13.1 billion bushels. Updated harvest estimates were to be released Friday, but the partial federal government shutdown has caused the USDA to suspend reports.

In northern Alabama, Jeff Webster, 50, farms 1,700 acres with a cousin. Those fields are producing between 160 and 200 bushels per acre, a significant improvement over the average of 130 to 140 bushels.

"It's an exceptional crop for most people," said Webster, a farmer for 30 years. He attributes it to a combination of a cool summer and significantly more rainfall than average.

It's a similar story for southern Illinois farmer Steven Niedbalski, 36, who works with his parents and a brother.

Last year, he cut down dying corn stalks to feed cattle because there was nothing to harvest; the best field delivered 40 bushels an acre. This year, he's seeing 150 to 170 bushels an acre on his farm near Nashville, Ill. He chalks it up to new hybrids withstanding the dry weather better than expected and cooler weather during pollination helping fill the ears with kernels.

But in the nation's leading corn-producing state, Iowa farmers are seeing more inconsistent results because of spring's rain-delayed planting followed by a dry summer.

Wayne Humphries, who raises hogs and grows corn and soybeans on about 1,000 acres 145 miles southeast of Des Moines, said some fields are producing as much as 200 bushels an acre while others with soil types that couldn't hold moisture are at half that.

"We've only had less than an inch of rain in the last two months. That wasn't conducive to finishing our crop," Humphries, of Columbus Junction, said.

Just 60 miles to the northeast, farmers on both sides of the Mississippi River around Davenport, Iowa, and Moline, Ill., are reporting eye-popping results — as many as 260 bushels an acre.

Corn prices are significantly lower than they were a year ago, when they reached more than $8 a bushel because of the drought. Corn has been trading in recent days at just under $4.50 a bushel, lower than for much of the summer. Prices have fallen as it became clear an abundant harvest was likely.

Hart said corn's current price will maintain profitability for pork, chicken, and turkey producers who rely on corn for animal feed, thus keeping consumer meat prices stable. It also helps the ethanol industry, which largely uses corn to make the fuel additive.

More corn will likely be exported to Japan and Mexico, Hart said. China also has recently entered the U.S. corn market and is expected to further increase exports.

Although demand will increase, it will not use up all this year's ample harvest.